The Surviving Deployment Trip Report, Updated 10/18 COMPLETE!! - Page 27 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Victoria's sketches are amazing! I'm glad the characters enjoyed and appreciated them so much.
Thank you! The characters seemed shocked that someone would take the time to draw them. Many characters stopped what they were doing and stood and flipped through her book. It was pretty cool. But, more of that to come!
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What a wonderful time at 1900 Park Fare - I'm not surprised the characters loved Victoria's pictures, they are awesome. I love the photo of Victoria and Cinderella both kissing Michael the bear - what a great photo. Again, I'm tearing up at that one.
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My goodness, that sounds like a wonderful meal. I'm not surprised the characters made such a fuss over Victoria's sketches. They're AWESOME! And I love Victoria's reaction to Prince Charming.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
All caught up! Sorry you got sick - that seems to be happening to a lot of people coming home from places lately.
I love all the pictures with Michael the Bear - what a great reminder to you and to us all about what he's doing. I too got all teary with your Magical Moment. 1900 PF looked like a great time! And Victoria's sketches were amazing!
Victoria's Sketches are FABULOUS I see a future animation artist here!!!! Make sure when you go back she gets to DHS and the drawing classes they have there she will LOVE it !!! My sisters daughter is a sketcher too and she love it and wanted to stay there all day when she did it I am in love with this TR I have never been to 1900 Park Fair but now I feel like I have More please
P.S. I know how you feel missing Michael it has only been three months since my DH left and I miss him like I would miss breathing but I also know why he does it and love him enough to support it. I just wish the wives got the credit because they could never do it without a great wife at home
Great pics btw! What kind of camera do you have Laura?
Thank you! I have a Canon PowerShot A540. I've had it a while. I like it. I'm ready for a mega camera though. I had a Nikon before but who uses film anymore? Poor thing just sits in the camera bag.
Victoria's Sketches are FABULOUS I see a future animation artist here!!!! Make sure when you go back she gets to DHS and the drawing classes they have there she will LOVE it !!!
P.S. I know how you feel missing Michael it has only been three months since my DH left and I miss him like I would miss breathing but I also know why he does it and love him enough to support it. I just wish the wives got the credit because they could never do it without a great wife at home
We went to the drawing class and loved it! That's coming up.
I agree. Without the support of loved ones at home, it can be very difficult for the soldiers so far away. Three months down!
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Day 1, part 5
We didn't wait long for the monorail. I wanted to go to the Poly and surprise Victoria by watching Wishes from the beach. I also wanted to see the water pageant, too. It would be our first time.
We had never been to the Poly and really enjoyed looking around.
Hidden Mickey!
I love this piece of artwork.
We enjoyed all of the Tiki statues around the resort.
I love this hidden Mickey. It was on the back on one of the Tikis in the gift store.
We made our way to the beach.
Victoria didn't understand what on earth we were doing here. We relaxed on some lounge chairs and just enjoyed the cool breeze. I noticed the barges getting ready for the water pageant. Then I heard the music start and the barges moved away from the Poly, but we could still see it. I guess it was performing for the Contemporary. We enjoyed it all the same.
The show ended and started getting in place for the Poly. Once it got set up, it was time for Wishes. So, we watched Wishes while the water pageant show was going on. It was pretty neat to see.
We really enjoyed seeing the fireworks from the Poly beach. It was a really nice experience. Afterwards, we made our way to the bus stop to wait for a bus to DTD. By this point, we were really tired. Remember, I had been up since 2 a.m.